#faculty led programs

[tata-digieshala]

Explore our faculty-led training courses on data visualization, statistics, data science, workplace safety, and more. Enroll today for success!

[bixels]

The idea that uni protesters are "elitist ivy-league rich kids larping as revolutionaries" on Twitter and Reddit and even here is so fucking funny to me if you actually know anything about the student bodies at these unis. Take it from someone who's going to one of the biggest private unis in the US, 80% of the peers I know are either from the suburbs or an apartment somewhere in America, children of immigrants, or here on a student visa. I've heard about one-percenter students, but I've never met one in person. Like, don't get me wrong, the institution as a whole is still very privileged and white. I've talked with friends and classmates about feeling weird or dissonant being here and coming from such a different background. But in my art program, I see BIPOC, disabled, queer, lower-income students and faculty trying to deconstruct and tear that down and make space every day. So to take a cursory glance at a crowd of student protesters in coalitions that are led by BIPOC & 1st/2nd-gen immigrant students and HQ'd in ethnic housings and student organizations and say, "ah. children of the elite." Get real.

[pandemic-info]

(via If we don't develop a treatment we're f*cked)

“Not to be a downer, but this is the result of a study researches led at the University of Toronto following SARS1 patients who were disabled by the virus initially and how they were doing 20 years later.“

Screenshot “from the presentation by; Prof. Daniel M. Altmann, Department of Immunology and Inflammation, Imperial College, Faculty of Medicine, London, UK at #UniteToFight2024 https://unitetofight2024.world/program/”

+ important comment:

“A study on SARS 1 survivors, if you're curious:

2023 study in The Lancet on SARS 1 survivors

Lots had femoral necrosis (bone death), osteoporosis, and long-lasting, possibly immunologically-based fatigue.

Just a reminder that while there are similarities, these are two different diseases. SARS CoV 1 hospitalized 70% of infected and killed 10% at the time of containment. They're similar in disease profile and in genetics, but they are NOT the same.

COVID-19 is much more infectious and less lethal, and the range of post-viral complications is different. Plus, we don't know what treatments will come out for Long COVID patients, but medicine is much more advanced and there is much more funding for Long COVID than there was for SARS CoV 1 survivors, who were infected in 2003, and never had access to a vaccine.”

[redgoldsparks]

I did a short interview for an alumni spotlight on the CCA website. You can click through but I'll also just copy my answers below the cut.

Maia Kobabe (e/em/eir) is a nonbinary/queer/trans author and illustrator, a voracious reader, a k-pop fan, and a daydreamer. You can learn an astonishing number of intimate details about em in Gender Queer: A Memoir and in eir other short comics, published by The New Yorker, The Nib, The Washington Post and in many print anthologies. Gender Queer won a Stonewall Honor and an Alex Award from the American Library Association in 2020. It was also the most challenged book in the United States in 2021 and 2022.

Maia shares more about eir life as a full-time artist and activist, fighting to protect diverse literature and the freedom to access information.

1. What is your current practice/business?

I am a full time cartoonist. My job consists of days working at home writing and drawing mixed with days speaking out against book banning and censorship, and in support of the freedom to read, the freedom to teach, and the freedom to access information. I spend a lot of time talking with other authors, teachers, and librarians about protecting diverse and queer books from the current wave of conservative attacks. The first piece I drew for the comics journalism site The Nib was about the rise of fascism in the United States; my later writing about queer, trans, and nonbinary identities has led me into consistently political territory.

2. Why did you choose CCA?

I chose CCA because I was looking for a MFA Comics program, of which there are very few, and I wanted to stay in the Bay Area. Because I'm a local, I was able to meet the majority of the MFA Comics faculty before I applied and felt immediately welcomed into their community. The fact that a majority of my professors for the first year of the program were queer was a huge draw as well.

3. If you could share one piece of advice with current or future students, what would it be?

Every single person has a story only they could tell. No matter what media you are working in, do your best to tell the story which is uniquely yours. If you aren't ready to tell it yet, just keep making art until the time to share that story arrives. No time spent creating is ever wasted.

4. What's your secret to staying inspired and creative?

I realized fairly early in life that my very favorite way to spend the day was drawing while listening to music, a podcast, or an audiobook. I like making things! I would rather be making things than doing almost anything else. I created a life in which I can spend a lot of time creating things and even if I don't particularly know what I am making, I am happy.

5. What do you have coming up?

My second book, Breathe: Journeys to Healthy Binding, written with Dr Sarah Pietzmeier, is coming out in May 2024 from Dutton. It's a nonfiction comic about chest binding as an aspect of trans healthcare. I'm currently drawing my third book, Saachi's Stories, written with Lucky Srikumar; it's due out from Scholastic Graphix in 2026. I am also working on adapting Gender Queer: A Memoir into an audiobook.

[luneengene2]

Andteam and what would their major be please??

&Team Members and Their College Majors (+Their 'behavior' at college)

I already made the Enhypen version, and now I'm going to make the &Team version (+fulfilling requests)

• A/N : I made this based on my opinion (+their MBTI if I wasn't sure about my opinion).

• Warnings : Contains grammatical errors

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

• KOGA YUDAI

|| Faculty of Arts, Design and Music ||

|| Modern Dance Department ||

- Will become a teaching assistant because his dancing skills are the best.

- Often sought after by juniors when there is a dance event on campus.

- Most likely apart from studying, he will join a J-Pop or K-pop agency to become an idol.

- The student group is well-known and has many followers on social media.

- The most skilled at creating choreography and becoming a trend on campus.

- One of the outstanding students on campus and is often sent to national and international dance competitions.

- Most likely he would have become an idol while he was still a student on campus if he was debuted by his agency.

- (This is random), but his girlfriend could be a beautiful ballerina who is also in the same faculty as him.

• MURATA FUMA

|| Faculty of Health and Sports Sciences ||

|| Department of Sports Education ||

- He became a student that girls wanted because apart from being tall and muscular, he was also very handsome.

- Often seen on sports fields, both outdoor and indoor.

- He is also known to be quite rich because his father is a gym owner.

- His clothes are identical with t-shirts, jogger pants, varsity/baseball jackets and Nike shoes.

- Member of the American football club on campus who has the position of captain.

- Apart from being a member of the American football club, he is also often sent by his campus to several sports competitions. His quick mastery means he always brings winning trophies to his campus.

- Became a teaching assistant because he was superior compared to his friends, both in practice and theory.

- He is also often seen at the campus gym and is often teased by girls who have a crush on him.

- (Random again), His girlfriend could be a beautiful cheerleader.

• Wang Yixiang / Nicholas Wang

|| Faculty of Art, Design and Music ||

|| Photography Department ||

(Addition: My imagination is more vivid about Nicholas who is very suitable to major in Photography compared to Fashion Design / Stylist)

- Has a very high fashion sense and often wears luxury items.

- Before entering university and starting the world of study, he already had his own photo studio which of course led to business.

- Often go around the university to photograph several objects.

- Opening up internship opportunities for friends who are in the same major as him.

- If there is an event on campus, he will often be called for documentation.

- Apart from being the best photography and student in his department, he also often helps his models to choose clothing styles that suit them.

- Has a target to enter the modeling industry by becoming a photographer.

- Often rumored to be dating girls who have the title 'Face of Campus' / 'Beautiful College Girls'.

- Has a part-time job as a model.

• Byun Euijoo

|| Faculty of Mathematics and Science ||

|| Mathematics Department ||

- The student is handsome but tends to be nerd and bookish (not an insult), because he often spends his time in the library and even takes extra classes.

- There are quite a lot of girls who have a crush on him, but most of them are reluctant to approach him.

- Often wears a shirt, carries a medium-sized backpack, carries a thick book, and wears glasses.

- Classified as an outstanding student who was able to enter the university because of his mathematics and science awards.

- Participating in an academy acceleration program so that he can more quickly proceed to master's level.

- He rarely gets together with his friends because he is more active in studying (Introvert).

- Despite being an introvert, he is also good friends with several medical students.

• Nakakita Yuma

|| Faculty of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries ||

|| Marine Engineering ||

(Addition: Do you know why I think Yuma would be a good fit for the Marine Engineering Department? Because one of the emojis represents him😭)

- Rarely seen on campus because he often practices directly, whether at the port, dock, or even directly at sea.

- Always the most updated with news about the sea in his country.

- He is very concerned about marine technology. And will also focus on creating solutions and developing marine technology.

- Will choose an internship in an offshore oil mine.

- Always communicate well with his lecturers regarding maritime issues in his country.

- Even though his major does not study marine biota, he also masters marine biota science.

- Often argue with students in the architectural department if the marine building designs they make do not suit his abilities (difficult).

- Make friends with civil engineering students and sometimes discuss development conditions on land and at sea.

• Asakura Jo

|| Faculty of Art, Design and Music ||

|| Fine Arts Department ||

- If there is an arts event on campus, he always takes the initiative first to participate and always wins.

- More talented in painting, but that doesn't mean he's not good at other subjects.

- His work will often be bought by lecturers on campus who like paintings, and the price is definitely expensive.

- Always gets the best rating in its class if there is a project about design or making complex sketches.

- Always wanted to do an internship at a museum or painting exhibition center and had a target of having his work displayed at the museum or painting exhibition center.

- One of the students who had a business before graduating from college opened a painting service.

- He often hangs out with students in the architectural department because he is interested in the building designs of architectural students.

- He always carries a sketchbook wherever he goes, and even while having lunch he always gets inspired to paint.

- (Random again), his girlfriend could be a student majoring in literature.

• Shigeta Harua

|| Faculty of Health and Sports Sciences ||

|| Department of Pediatrics (Master's degree or equivalent) ||

(Addition: After graduating with a medical degree, he will specialize in pediatrics, aka continuing his Masters studies)

- A student who is soft-hearted because he likes children.

- He has a friendly nature which makes him a lecturer's favorite.

- During his internship, he will choose to do an internship at a children's hospital.

- If there is a vaccine event on campus for children, he will be very enthusiastic, even buying gifts with his own money to distribute to the children to make them happy.

- Children will always be happy to meet him because Harua is always friendly and always has kind words.

- He is good friends with psychology students.

- (This is random) in his practice uniform pocket, he often carries a stuffed bunny.

- Dating a female dental student.

• Takayma Riki

|| Faculty of Social, Law and Political Sciences ||

|| Journalism Department ||

(Addition : Taki is an ENFP, so I think this major suits him)

- The most updated about the latest news because the department is also assigned to search for and discuss the latest news.

- Have good public speaking skills (ofc).

- Has his own blog and is often assigned by his university to create the latest news about his campus.

- Relatively rarely seen on campus because he often interviews various sources.

- Have high analytical skills.

- Often wears glasses, a plaid shirt, often carries notes and carries a camera and small microphone.

- Prefer to do an internship at a television station and become a reporter there rather than become a news writer.

- Always a 'group' together with students in the photography department because every time there is a campus event, several photography and journalism students are always part of the documentation makers.

• Maus Riki / Hirota Riki

|| Faculty of Social, Law and Political Sciences ||

|| Department of International Relations ||

- His excellent ability in several languages ​​made him choose this major.

- He often experiences UN meetings because his campus often chooses him to go directly to UN meetings.

- Classified as a very rich student (+his parents are one of the biggest campus donors to his campus).

- The target of girls at his university because he is rich, handsome and authoritative.

- Often the focus is also on voicing women's rights, whether at UN meetings or other international meetings.

- It is relatively rare to see at universities because they are often sent abroad for direct practice.

- Most likely to get a scholarship to study abroad.

- Dating a female student in the law department.

[eretzyisrael]

by Ayala Or-El

Dr. Rabinovici said that many of his friends and colleagues at the prestigious institute expressed to him feelings of alienation and disregard by the administration.

“We’ve been complaining for nine months,” he said. “It amazes us to see what’s happening. It was always an exceptional workplace that valued inclusivity for everyone. I assumed that included Israelis, but I was shocked to find that when we complained about this very hostile environment, our complaints to the Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination were completely dismissed.”

Rabinovici said that what happened next shocked him even more. He and his colleagues were referred to a counselor in case they needed additional support and that this counselor had posted “some of the most vile antisemitic remarks,” he said. “This is the person to whom Jews and the Israeli community were referred for further support. When we complained about this to the administration, their response was to refer us to another counselor, one who wasn’t openly antisemitic.”

It didn’t stop there, he said. Antisemitic content has infiltrated the university’s educational programs. Faculty members have presented slides about what they call ‘genocide in Gaza’ during UCSF continuing medical education courses.

“There’s a lot of intimidation aimed at silencing Jewish and Zionist voices. Suddenly, all Jews are being blamed for the actions of the Israeli government in Gaza. That’s clear antisemitism.”

Yarden Golan, a postdoctoral fellow at UCSF, and her family moved to San Francisco from Israel four-and-a half-years ago. She says she has never been an activist or politically involved. In Israel, she hardly watched the news, but all that has changed since Oct. 7.

That day led her to become “much more involved and active at the university. It started with trying to raise awareness about the abductees and advocacy activities simply because I felt it was impossible to remain silent in the face of this injustice,” she said. “When anti-Israeli events started on campus, I became involved in organizing events for the Jewish and Israeli community on campus.”

Golan said that a few months after the war began, there was a pro-Palestinian rally at the university. She and her friend decided to go and see what the other side had to say and maybe start a dialogue. When they got there, they heard the same propaganda against Israel, spreading false information and narratives provided by Hamas.

When the rally ended, she approached Dr. Jess Ghannam. The doctor has been working at UCSF for 30 years and specializes in chronic illnesses and post-traumatic stress disorder. Ghannam, whose parents are Palestinians, was featured in The New York Times article and was pictured wearing a watermelon pin, a symbol of solidarity with Palestinians.

[sehunniepotwrites]

SHELVED AWAY | JH.S

SYNOPSIS. You and Johnny have been academic rivals since the day you first met. Top Two on the Dean’s List for your university’s English Department, it was hard to tell who claimed the number one spot on the list. You always butted heads, whether it was over who led the discussion in a course lecture, who got a higher grade on a paper, or who helped more customers at the bookshop you both worked at. When a bet to see who could sign up more customers for their shop’s loyalty program came to life, the both of you would stop at nothing to win this little game even if it meant getting closer to the other.

PAIRING. coworker!Johnny Suh x (f) reader GENRE. college!au, bookshop!au, enemies-to-lovers!au, academic rivals!au, suggestive, humor, fluff (?) WORD COUNT. 4.6k+ WARNINGS. characters are like cat-and-dog, make-out scene, profanity, name-calling (lmao), they bicker a lot

DISCLAIMER. This is work of fiction. I do not own the people/characters and concepts I have written about. You cannot translate or copy my work.

There were many things you loved about your university. 

You loved how the campus was swarmed with trees, each building surrounded by a lush and vibrant green in the spring and summer months and warm brown shades during the cold of autumn and winter. You loved the sense of community your school upheld, always hosting events that were opened to anyone and everyone in the immediate area. The way it made you feel at home when you were miles away. The friends you made in your major and the small department you belonged to. 

You adored it all. 

The one thing you hated about your university though wasn’t a thing at all. It was a person who went by the name of John Jun Suh. People in the English department, whether it be faculty, staff, or fellow students called him by Johnny but you wouldn’t succumb to calling him by his preferred name. It made you seem closer to him than you really were and you despised that even being a possibility. You weren’t close. You were far from that. 

Johnny Suh was your rival in every sense of the word. The top two students in the entire department—he concentrated in Literal and Cultural Studies while you dabbled in Creative Writing—you never saw eye to eye. 

Even in a shared lecture hall, you and Johnny were miles apart, distance fueled by your competitive spirits and mutual distaste for the other. 

Miles apart and still butting heads as academic rivals were destined to do. The discussions in the courses you shared were led by your volleying, voices only increasing in volume as you challenged each other’s thoughts and cruxes. Fighting for the attention of the professors. Competing for the highest grade on the latest paper or the spot of tutor in the Writing Lab. 

And just how you had a certain way of doing things, Johnny did the same, using a completely different method. 

In other words, the two of you were complete opposites. 

While you preferred the lighter side of fiction, he longed for the darker bookish themes. The same went for your style of dress—your academia-themed wardrobe was filled with whites, off-whites, and the lighter colors of the spectrum whereas Johnny’s clothes consisted of darker statement pieces including black turtlenecks and dark brown slacks with matching coats. Dark shades and fits that only accentuated his devastatingly handsome figure. 

When you felt comfortable studying during the light of day, you always caught Johnny entering the library in the dark of night as you left for home. 

He was a bookish social butterfly, his wings fluttering about here and there around the English department building and in any club that sparked his interest, while you stayed in your tightly-knitted group of friends. 

Your friends never understood why you hated him. Yes, you were rivals when it came to grades and other educated-related things, but they truly believed you would get along if you really got to know him.

You hated him because it seemed as if he was blessed with everything in life—intelligence, a light and friendly attitude despite his dark attire, physical features that rivaled ones belonging to the gods. Thick hair that looked good in any color. Eyes that shined behind the glare of his rounded specks. Proportions that made both men and women alike swoon. A voice filled with a variety of colors. Johnny was almost perfect without even trying and you despised him for it. 

They were wrong about you and him. So completely wrong.

You knew it. You were almost certain Johnny knew it too.

There was no way you could get along with John Jun Suh. Never in your wildest dreams.

You thought you would find solace working in the town center’s bookshop. Clearly, as Johnny stood before you, with his brand new name-tag pinned against the expanse of his chest, you thought wrong.

To make matters worse, you were the one assigned to train him, to show him the ropes. According to your boss, there was no one better to show the giant how everything works around the store. Your boss wasn’t wrong, you just hated the fact that you had to share one more thing with Johnny Suh. 

With and without your help, Johnny picked up quickly and worked his way up to one of the shop’s top sellers list. Once again, you two were tied for a title. Your boss, sensing your drive to compete, fueled the fire even more in the form of commissions. 

As one of the only bookstores in your college town, your place of employment was quite a popular place. People of all ages flocked to your store to find the book they were seeking and it was time to take advantage of it. In order to engage with customers, your boss launched a loyalty program in which people could earn points that led to discounts. An employee of the shop would earn a commission every time someone signed up for the program under their recommendation. The staff member who received the most commissions within three months after launch would get an extra bonus. It was a fantastic plan, one that was well-received by the staff and the public, especially by you and Johnny.

The two of you found it as another way to compete, especially when you were the highest performers in house. A bet resulted from this “friendly” competition, the loser having to do whatever the winner wanted of them. You remembered the day the bet was established, the rage festering inside you egging Johnny on.

“I’m going to get that bonus, Suh, just you wait,” you said, pushing yourself off the shelf you leaned on. “Just you fucking wait.”

Johnny’s face whipped straight to you with a smirk permanently etched on his full lips. With raised brows, he answered, “Oh, I think you’ve got it all wrong, sweetheart, because that money is mine.”

He tried to distract you with silly nicknames and it didn’t work. “Stubborn as ever, aren’t you?”

“I’d say the same about you,” Johnny lowered his lids, lashes brushing against the tops of his cheeks. He crossed his arms against his chest, muscles straining against his tight shirt’s form hugging fabric. You willed yourself to look away from the bulging muscles that caught everyone else’s attention.  “I’d suggest a bet but everyone knows I’ll win.”

“Oh, please. You’re too confident in yourself!”

“And you’re not?”

“I’ve been here longer and I have more customer service experience than you, John, so I clearly have the upper hand,” you argued as your feet led you to him. 

“And yet all the customers come to me when we’re servicing the same area, I wonder why that is,” Johnny shrugged, “Must be your resting bitch face scaring them away.”

You scoffed, “Is that supposed to be an insult? You need to try a little harder to actually hurt my feelings.”

“Believe me,” Johnny paused to say your name and you tightened your fists to fight the shiver his words caused, “I’m only just getting started.”

“Okay, if it’s a bet you want, fine. I’m in. Loser gets to grant the winner’s wish, no matter what it is.” You stuck your hand out and it lingered in the air for a second too long. 

When you tried to pull it away, Johnny’s hand reached out to join them together. You ignored the electricity that shocked your brain. The feeling of warmth his touch gave you. 

“Fine,” he agreed.

“Good!”

“Good.”

Neither you or Johnny announced what you wanted as punishments, saving the surprise for when the three months concluded. Despite that, you were not one who took losing well. So, you did whatever means necessary to win. Johnny did the very same.

Your coworkers gave up on winning that bonus because no one was as passionate as you both were, parading around the grounds while sabotaging each other. Johnny hid your online orders and you stole his customers. You had yelling matches in the stock rooms, ones others could hear if they passed by the back doors. They never stopped you–they knew better than that–instead, they just let it all unfold, wondering where your arguments would lead you next.

“Stop taking customers away from me!” you screeched at him one day when the shop was devoid of people. It was a slow day so far with no one else but Johnny and a few more coworkers to keep you company.  

You passed the point of annoyance and almost grabbed the closest hardcover within your reach. A good hit on the back of Johnny’s head would do your coworker some good. Johnny deserved it, especially when that specific guest signed up for the program right in front of you. You caught Johnny double checking the person’s entered information on his computer screen, reading everything back to him to check for accuracy. 

You couldn’t believe he ripped another one away from your fingertips. According to the data up till then, tallied on a whiteboard in the break room, Johnny was five commissions ahead of you. You were in the lead last week but he intercepted so many of your customers in the past two days, Johnny saw catching up as child’s play. That last customer made it six. 

Johnny simply rested his sharp chin, “You were taking too long so he came to me. Seemed like he was in a rush.”

“I was trying to find him the perfect copy,” you spat back. “A lot of the covers were damaged during shipping.”

“And some people don’t care about that stuff.” 

“Are you saying you don’t?” you asked.

“No, I do. But others, like that guy who just left, don’t.” 

“Whatever, fucker,” you turned away from him, logging back into your computer that kicked you off during your time away. 

“Such eloquent words coming out of that pretty mouth of yours,” Johnny laughed, satisfied with the irritation in your voice. Your mind fixated on the compliment and you did your absolute best to ignore minuscule, barely-there thump in your chest. “Wonder what other insults you can come up with. Maybe you’ll dive into some Shakespearean ones, those are always fun.” 

“Watch your back and your customers, Suh,” you threatened, fingertips pressing harshly against the keys. 

He heard the anger with every little click. “Sure, sweetheart.”

“Stop calling me that!”

“Just for that,” Johnny smirked, “I don’t think I will.”

“Thief.”

“Slowpoke.”

But as the months passed, there were times when Johnny would get a little too close to you and his presence didn’t bother you as much as before. 

His voice wasn’t as irritating from near or far. Your eyes stopped twitching when Johnny would change his commission count on the communal white board. 

Sometimes, you would feel his large, warm hand on your back as he tried to get to his register. Other times, you felt his breath hitting your cheek while he leaned down to look at your computer. When you argued, you were suddenly hyper aware of how his body was less than an inch away from yours. How he, at times, would stare at your frowning lips for a beat too long. Or how his biting words turned a little kinder when you were having an off day. 

Those things shouldn’t have affected you in the way that they did, making your heart rumble in your chest like an earthquake shaking your entire world. But as much as you wanted to deny it,  Johnny tugged on your heart strings. Unknowingly, his actions made you revisit the chapter of your story that focused on love. Little by little, they added words to pages left untouched for many years, bringing the paper to life. And you weren’t sure of where this plot point was taking you next.

“I didn’t know you liked this genre,” you approached him one day as Johnny sat in the break room. His nose was stuck inside one of your favorite novels, one that you recommended to anyone who asked for a romance suggestion. The book itself came out two weeks ago and it sold out within hours. 

You, being an avid reader and book reviewer, received access to an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. And an honest review you gave that had everyone who followed you buzzing until the release date. 

“Well, there’s a lot of things you don’t know about me,” Johnny smiled softly at you, his long fingers coming up to slip a bookmark in between the pages he left off on. He slid past you, gently placing the novel back into the small crevice of his work locker. “It’s really good so far, I see why you’ve been raving about it. I’d keep reading but my break’s up,” he said to you, his hand grazing at the small of your back to move you out of his way, “but I’ll talk to you more about it later, yeah? I marked some quotes I liked.” 

Your gaze followed him out, not knowing why that touch and his words made you freeze in place. It made him seem like a romantic, something that you really wouldn’t have guessed. 

There were a lot of things you knew about Johnny Suh. You knew how he irritated you to death and how he always came in early for his shifts. He hated being late. He was always on time. 

You knew how he preferred darker neutrals than your lighter colors when it came to wardrobe palettes. How he belonged to a different English concentration but still took creative writing courses to expand his verse. 

But there were a lot of things you don’t know about him, too. You didn’t know how he took his coffee in the morning or who his favorite author was. His favorite genre of book or his preferred type of music when he studies so diligently on his breaks. You didn’t know how he liked to spend his time away from school and work. Whether he preferred plain sticky notes or the Disney Princess ones he was currently placing on the pages of your favorite book.

You didn’t know if he was dating anybody or remotely interested in anyone at the moment. Not that you actually cared.

There were a whole lot of things you didn’t know about Johnny but just looking at him with your beloved novel in hand, marking the pages with his own inklings, you felt your heart wanting to learn more about the coworker you came to hate. Yearning to occupy the spot in front of him and exchange his current thoughts on the book. Longing to hear how his mind interpreted fact and fiction.

You didn’t know much about John Jun Suh but the book of your heart had already opened its pages up, ready for him to fill you up with words and maybe, his love.

It was the second to last week of the bet and you were working the busiest shift of your life. 

There was a signing with a popular author earlier in the day, flooding the store more than usual. It ended around an hour ago but the weening crowd from the event lingered in between the aisles. Some of your coworkers already clocked out for the day, only assigned the hours of the signing. But you, of course, were not able to leave as you were that day’s shift lead. So you carried on, starting your rotation as the customer service stand in the middle of the store. 

You smiled at a customer who approached you, grabbing their sheet of confirmation paper for a book on hold. Gesturing to the back room with the paper in hand, you said politely, “Wait right here. I’ll be right back with your book.”

The customer nodded at you in reply and with that, you were off. Johnny, who was manning the other customer service computer next to you, followed suit. Rolling your eyes, you attempted to walk faster but with daddy long legs behind you, it didn’t take long for him to catch up to your pace. Pretending the tall boy with the stupid round glasses and the stuck-up dark academia fit wasn’t there, your focus remained on the paper in your grip. Studying the printed font, you maneuvered through various bookshelves without looking up until you reached a door that read “Employees Only.” 

Swiping your employee card to grant you access, you hurried in to keep Johnny out. Kicking the door closed you didn’t work–Johnny’s long foot caught it before it shut and you cursed. You wished it slammed against him, inflicting some sort of pain—much like the pain he caused you. 

Sighing, a realization hit you. He was never going to leave you alone no matter how hard you tried. But did that truly upset you or did it leave your body buzzing with nerves? 

“You’re ignoring me,” Johnny deadpanned as your hands ghosted against the spines of many books lining the shelves. His heavy footsteps echoed in the room; it was louder than your nervous breaths. Being alone with him did make you nervous, not that you would ever admit it out loud.

You would never admit to the butterflies you felt when he was around or the way your heart pounded erratically against your breastbone. You would never admit the way the scent of his perfume drove you a bit mad—almost as mad as the famed hatter—or how irritatingly handsome he looked when he studied at the counter, full lips in a pout and rounded glasses sliding down the slope of his nose.

Or how much you liked when he did little things like holding the door open for you when you had a dolly filled with merchandise. Making sure you got a worksheet that you missed during a class discussion. How you grew sweet on him when he’d drive you home after a shared closing shift, expressing his concern for your safety. 

Johnny said he wouldn’t want any girl to wait out in the dark for an unreliable bus. He’d rather see you home so he was one hundred percent sure you made it back to your apartment in one piece. Johnny wouldn’t leave the lot until he saw your bedroom light turn on. He memorized what floor you were on the day he took you all the way to your door. It was the night some loiterers were being loud and obnoxious at the front of your building. You didn’t feel safe walking past them on your own, frightened by the drunken catcalls they threw at people passing by. So like any good person would do, Johnny draped a protective arm around your shoulder, told you to keep your pretty little head down, and led you to the elevator. 

You even caught yourself dreaming about him during the day and night, random thoughts of him streaming into your consciousness. They were like little movie reels playing in your head. Scenes of him sitting in the corners of the shop, reading and annotating the books you recommended to guests, or him sipping on that large cup of iced americano that he consumed daily.

You would never admit to any of those things, especially not to him.

“I’m not ignoring you, you’re too insignificant to ignore.”

Johnny laughed a light chuckle as if he thought your response was cute. You hated it. 

“I just don’t want anything to do with you, and also— I. Am. Working,” you hissed as you finally reached the shelf you were looking for. The customer had ordered a new contemporary romance novel—one you found yourself indulging in during your breaks before it was released—but it was nowhere to be found in your stock. 

“That’s a lie and you know it,” Johnny’s voice came from behind you. You felt the heat of his body and you clenched your hand, ultimately wrinkling the paper you held. That was fine; the customer didn’t need it after your interaction anyway. It was going straight to the trash, just like your heart was. 

Your not-so-fragile heart was going in the damn garbage because you were letting a stupid pretentious English major rile you up over the dumbest things. An ounce of hate consumed you as you came to this epiphany. You were supposed to hate him, despise him for challenging your position as the top seller in the store, and for stealing your spotlight from the English department. So why didn’t you?

“God—where is that damned book?” Your irritation seeped through your words and the way you slammed the metal shelves. 

Johnny chuckled, easily snatching the paper from your hands, earning a small huff from you. He took a glance at it before shifting his gaze to the higher shelves--the ones you needed a step stool for. Your co-worker, smug as he could be, found it easily and with confidence, he reached for it. The action pressed you against the shelf, your hands immediately finding purchase on the metal to steady yourself from the unexpected weight. His strong, hard chest was against your back and his hot breath hit your ear. “Looking for this one?”

You stiffened against him. You could not move, not when Johnny’s weight trapped you between his arms. Not when the sweet scent of his cologne was flooding your senses. Not when his low, husky voice whispered in your ear. 

“I don’t need your help,” you hissed back, fingers gripping onto the edge of the shelf. 

“You need my height.”

“There’s a step stool right there for me to use so no, John, I don’t need your help.”

“Clearly, you do, sweetheart, you couldn’t even find that book for that sweet customer that’s waiting for you out there.”

The nickname, although a bit heart-fluttering, was also somewhat degrading and it set you off. Fire seeped through your veins. With a breath, you turned so that you were chest to chest. With furrowed brows and a piercing glare, you said, “I don’t need you—“

“You sure?” Johnny leaned closer, his hazed eyes dipping down to your frowning lips for a fraction of a second. 

You caught the action and again, your heart tried pushing its way out of your body, “—or your help or your teasing here and in class. I’m tired.”

“I’m not.” Of course, he wasn’t. He never was. That’s what made him so annoying—his persistence. 

“Give me the book, John.” 

“Nah, I think I’ll hold on to it for you.”

“Hand it over.”

Lowering down to her level, he smirks and says, “Why don’t you make me?”

“Don’t think I can do it?”

“Oh, I’d really like to see you try.”

Johnny’s challenging words pulled you to do something unexpected. Instead of replying with words, you accepted his provocation by yanking him to your level and fitting your mouth against his. Your fingers curled in his long, soft hair while his free hand drifted to your waist. It wrapped around your middle, further trapping you in between his build and the cold metal shelf. 

Johnny kissed you like it was something that he wanted to do. Like it was something he was meant to do. Whenever you moved, he followed. Every little tilt of the head or breath you took was followed by him finding his way back to you. There was no escaping his lips, his scent, his whole entire being. Johnny was all around you and for once, you let yourself indulge in the moment. 

When Johnny swiped his tongue against your bottom lip, you opened yourself up to him. You allowed him to explore parts of you that had been closed off for many years. The levels of passion were on an equal scale, the tiny noises escaping you matching the level of Johnny’s eager groans. He made you forget where you were once his grip found its way to your chin, pulling you to close the space you created as you took a needed breath. The task of helping the customer was temporarily erased from memory as he pulled away just enough to whisper your name against your lips.

But it all came back to you once you felt that book–the one you fought him for–press against your middle. It was wedged in between your bodies, distracting you from the pleasure that came from kissing your rival. 

So, as Johnny went back in for another kiss, you grabbed the book out of his loosened grip and shoved him away. 

Taking a good look at him, Johnny’s face was red and his lips were all kinds of swollen. There was a dazed look in his eyes, one that was so hazy, it was the dreamiest thing you had ever laid eyes on. His hand remained at the level of your head, fingers twitching, as if they wanted to grab hold of you once more. Your name barely escaped his lips when you slowly retreated towards the exit. You created a wider space between you, with the coveted book in one hand and the other blindly reaching for the door handle.

“There. See?”

“See what?” Johnny said breathlessly.

“I tried,” you replied, staring right into his eyes. If you looked elsewhere, if your gaze wandered back down to the lips that tasted so addicting, you would have folded and ran back right to him. Shaking the book within his view, you continued on, “And when I try, I always get what I want.”

Giving him no time to talk back, you opened the door and made your great escape. 

His brown eyes remained on the door long after you left, waiting for his heart to calm itself. His fingers rubbed against his lips, mind still clouded with no one else but you. That wasn’t an odd occurrence to him, it was actually quite a normal one. Not that you had to know.

Johnny opened up to the thought of you long before that kiss occurred. 

It happened earlier in the year, when he saw you tutoring his friend Mark in the English department’s writing center. You diligently helped the struggling student, offering him constructive feedback with a high amount of patience. You stayed hours after your tutoring shift ended, making sure Mark hit every point on the grading rubric to ensure that he would get a passing grade. 

There was no need for you to go out of your way like that but you wanted to out of the goodness of your heart. And just like you assisted Mark, you continued to go above and beyond in your bookstore clerk duties to guarantee that every customer left satisfied. 

Your dedication to your work was admirable. It made you all the more charming in Johnny’s eyes, even more charming than the first time he laid eyes on you during first year orientation. 

A new book opened way back then, the love story in his heart practically writing itself. But as your treatment and obvious distaste towards him worsened over the years, he shelved that book away. Despite the harsh treatment he didn’t deserve, Johnny’s heart always held a soft spot for you; the page he left off on dog-eared for him to return to. It remained folded, the crease pressing a permanent indent into the page in case Johnny wanted to explore his feelings in depth once again.

And as you rang up the customer that you fought over, Johnny went through the library of his mind, searching for that book he filed away. And once he found it, he pried it out of the shelf and opened it back up, undoing the crease that bookmarked where he left off. 

Johnny was ready to fall in love again but more importantly, he was ready to fall in love with you. 

EMPLOYEE BULLETIN BOARD. Hey, everyone! I’m back. Long time no chat <3 First of all, happy new year! But more importantly, happy Johnny day!!! I went through my archives to find this. It was originally planned to be a longer fic but I lost inspiration for it. Maybe I can come back to it one day and fully flesh it out. But until then, this is all I’ve got (until Jaehyun’s birthday). Please tell me what you think of it. I feel like I’m a bit rusty ;;;

A big thanks to @lavendersuh for reading through this multiple times and editing/suggesting things when she saw fit. You’re the best, Em <3 @smileysuh you’re the king for also skimming through this. And @yutaholic for indulging me as I spam her with all my ideas uwu. You’re awesome!! 

TAGLIST. @johtenrecs @emmybyeakitty @ppangjae @sokkigarden @kaepop-trash @suhnnyskiess @baekhyuns-lipchain @bebsky @bat-shark-repellant @renjuunsz @ferxanda @lebrookestore​ @tyongblr

NETWORKS. @neowritingsnet​ 

© sehunniepotwrites, 2022

[thecrashcourse]

Learn something new in 2024!

Learn how to code in 2024 with @Study Hall’s Code and Programming for Beginners course! Master the fundamentals of programming and earn college credit while you build java programs to solve real-world problems.

Check out the course videos for free on YouTube, then join the online college course led by ASU faculty for just $25 and apply what you’ve learned. If at the end of the course you’re happy with your grade, pay an optional fee and add 3 transferable credits to your transcript!

Next course starts Jan 9th, join the coding cohort at https://link.gostudyhall.com/ccj

[frank-olivier]

The Future of Justice: Navigating the Intersection of AI, Judges, and Human Oversight

One of the main benefits of AI in the justice system is its ability to analyze vast amounts of data and identify patterns that human judges may not notice. For example, the use of AI in the U.S. justice system has led to a significant reduction in the number of misjudgments, as AI-powered tools were able to identify potential biases in the data and make more accurate recommendations.

However, the use of AI in the justice system also raises significant concerns about the role of human judges and the need for oversight. As AI takes on an increasingly important role in decision-making, judges must find the balance between trusting AI and exercising their own judgement. This requires a deep understanding of the technology and its limitations, as well as the ability to critically evaluate the recommendations provided by AI.

The European Union's approach to AI in justice provides a valuable framework for other countries to follow. The EU's framework emphasizes the need for human oversight and accountability and recognizes that AI is a tool that should support judges, not replace them. This approach is reflected in the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which requires AI systems to be transparent, explainable and accountable.

The use of AI in the justice system also comes with its pitfalls. One of the biggest concerns is the possibility of bias in AI-generated recommendations. When AI is trained with skewed data, it can perpetuate and even reinforce existing biases, leading to unfair outcomes. For example, a study by the American Civil Liberties Union found that AI-powered facial recognition systems are more likely to misidentify people of color than white people.

To address these concerns, it is essential to develop and implement robust oversight mechanisms to ensure that AI systems are transparent, explainable and accountable. This includes conducting regular audits and testing of AI systems and providing clear guidelines and regulations for the use of AI in the justice system.

In addition to oversight mechanisms, it is also important to develop and implement education and training programs for judges and other justice professionals. This will enable them to understand the capabilities and limitations of AI, as well as the potential risks and challenges associated with its use. By providing judges with the necessary skills and knowledge, we can ensure that AI is used in a way that supports judges and enhances the fairness and accountability of the justice system.

Human Centric AI - Ethics, Regulation. and Safety (Vilnius University Faculty of Law, October 2024)

Friday, November 1, 2024

[centrally-unplanned]

(Reposting from the twitters)  There is this "admin bloat" fact going today, which is always positioned as a problem at US universities and an explanation for their high tuition:

Which, well Harvard has 20,000 students, its 2/3rds grad students - that is a very selective figure to quote. But anyway it comes from this MRU post quoting a Harvard Crimson editorial, which follows with this framing:

Yet of the 7,000-strong horde, it seems that many members’ primary purpose is to squander away tax-free money intended for academic work on initiatives, projects, and committees that provide scant value to anyone’s educational experience.

For example, last December, all Faculty of Arts and Sciences affiliates received an email from Dean Claudine Gay announcing the final report of the FAS Task Force on Visual Culture and Signage, a task force itself created by recommendation of the Presidential Task Force on Inclusion and Belonging. This task force was composed of 24 members: six students, nine faculty members, and nine administrators. The task force produced a 26-page report divided into seven sections, based upon a survey, focus groups, and 15 separate meetings with over 500 people total. The report dedicated seven pages to its recommendations, which ranged from “Clarify institutional authority over FAS visual culture and signage” to “Create a dynamic program of public art in the FAS.” In response to these recommendations, Dean Gay announced the creation of a new administrative post, the “FAS campus curator,” and a new committee, the “FAS Standing Committee on Visual Culture and Signage.”

Regardless of your stance on the goal of fostering a more inclusive visual culture, the procedural absurdity is clear. A presidential task force led to the creation of an FAS task force which, after expending significant time, effort, and resources, led to the creation of a single administrative job and a committee with almost the exact name as the second task force. I challenge anyone other than the task force members themselves to identify the value created for a single Harvard student’s educational experience.

This approach is very obsfucating in a way typical of this genre. The 'task force' thing here is a Gish Gallop - 24 members! 26 page report! 500 people meetings! Bureaucracy run rampant!

Which, yeah true lol, but not due to this. The use of "task force" here is meant to sound all formal, but at universities everything is a task force, its just what we call a recurring meeting - a bunch of people meet a few times w/ free lunch, that is it. 500 people polled? Harvard’s population is ~40,000, these ‘meetings’ we 20 minute zoom calls, on people & time spent that is a rounding error. That 27 page report is 50% copy-pasted appendixes, easy, it took someone maybe a day to write.

And the culmination is they hired a full time staffer. So ditch the jargon and reframe: a large org met multiple times and surveyed stakeholders before creating a new role. Literally all big orgs do this! This is standard procedure, if you gonna expand a team you need buy-in + role definition. Unis are overrun with this task force stuff, they are inefficient, but it is almost no one's job to do only task forces. They are 5% at most of every fac-staff's time, bullshit provost agendas or overwrought due diligence that you shake your head at and suffer through before getting back to your real job. Stupid, but nowhere near an explainer for 7k admin roles.

When you look at the Crimson source article, it really tips its hand on the analytical error:

Wrong. Harvard has instead filled its halls with administrators. Across the University, for every academic employee there are approximately 1.45 administrators. When only considering faculty, this ratio jumps to 3.09. Harvard employs 7,024 total full-time administrators, only slightly fewer than the undergraduate population. What do they all do?

Most administrators have a legitimate function. I will happily concede that the University does need administration to operate effectively. No professors want to handle Title IX compliance or send institution-wide emails about Covid-19 protocols. Yet of the 7,000-strong horde, it seems that many members’ primary purpose is to squander away tax-free money intended for academic work on initiatives, projects, and committees that provide scant value to anyone’s educational experience.

Oh, ~most~ have a legitimate function? How much is most? 65%? 85%? ...99%? Big world of difference there, if its 99% this article doesn't make sense any more. Of course it never says...just 'many'. And it names...one, the new FAS role. Lets look at that role, from the famed 27 page report:

That is...a public art manager. Harvard has a metric ton of public art! You think wall murals and statues and banners paint, hang, and rotate themselves? Its Harvard, its 30% museum, its a high prestige venue, its in demand from artists, it *trains* aritsts. This is a real job!! Its not fake at all. Harvard wants to expand how diverse its public art is so its expanding its team.

Now you might think universities should be bare-walled office buildings, which you can think...except you don't, if you had to send you *own* child there and are the running to pick Harvard as that option. Suddenly all this 'bloat' is a beautiful campus with facilities to provide happiness and status for your kid. Suddenly...the branding makes sense. Suddenly this role generates value. That is the issue all the 'admin bloat' arguments run into; when you actually have to spec out the numbers, you see 95% of the staff increase is because what unis *do* is different. Harvard wasn't an art museum in 1950, but it is today. It *makes money* from that role. 

What I am not saying is unis don't have an org problem - they absolutely do. It stems from unis serving this three-tier job as status/credential certifier, teaching institution, and research facility, which we only pretend aligns, they don't really.  Which is the frame admin 'bloat' must be understood through - as unis changed faculty pushed back on having their job change to meet it. But there was way too much money at stake, so admin were expanded to fill the gap the old ‘faculty-as-owners’ model was exposing, and that gap has grown over time. The bloat model doesn't capture this dynamic at all. It just holds up fig leaf arts/humanities roles as synecdoche for all admin when they are the exception. Unis could be massively restructured, absolutely, but as of now only 2-3% (at most) could be fired before revenue, operations, research, etc. were impacted.

The ‘problem’ at US universities is baked into their core structure and incentives - if it was trivial to fix, they would have done it.

[rockislandadultreads]

Women's History Month: Nonfiction Recommendations

Celebrate Women's History Month this March by checking out one of these nonfiction recommendations!

The Six by Loren Grush

When NASA sent astronauts to the moon in the 1960s and 1970s the agency excluded women from the corps, arguing that only military test pilots - a group then made up exclusively of men - had the right stuff. Eventually, NASA recognized its blunder and opened the application process to a wider array of hopefuls, regardless of race or gender. From a candidate pool of 8,000 six elite women were selected in 1978 - Sally Ride, Judy Resnik, Anna Fisher, Kathy Sullivan, Shannon Lucid, and Rhea Seddon. Together, "the Six" built  the tools that made the space program run.

The Exceptions by Kate Zernike

In 1963, a young Nancy Hopkins fell in love with the promise of genetics. In 1999, Hopkins, now a noted molecular geneticist and cancer researcher at MIT, found herself underpaid and denied the credit and resources given to men of lesser rank. Galvanized by the flagrant favoritism, Hopkins led a group of sixteen women on the faculty in a campaign that prompted MIT to make the historic admission that it had long discriminated against its female scientists, which then set off a national reckoning with the pervasive sexism in science

The Doctors Blackwell by Janice P. Nimura

Elizabeth Blackwell believed from an early age that she was destined for a mission beyond the scope of "ordinary" womanhood. Though the world at first recoiled at the notion of a woman studying medicine, her intelligence and intensity ultimately won her the acceptance of the male medical establishment. In 1849, she became the first woman in America to receive an M.D. She was soon joined in her iconic achievement by her younger sister, Emily. This biography celebrates two complicated pioneers who exploded the limits of possibility for women in medicine. 

The Girl Explorers by Jayne Zanglein

This is the inspirational and untold story of the founding of the Society of Women Geographers - an organization of adventurous female world explorers - and how key members served as early advocates for human rights and paved the way for today's women scientists by scaling mountains, exploring the high seas, flying across the Atlantic, and recording the world through film, sculpture, and literature. For these women dared to go where no woman―or man―had gone before, achieving the unthinkable and breaking through barriers to allow future generations to carry on their important and inspiring work.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Christopher F. Rufo and Luke Rosiak

Published: Apr 22, 2024

Recent headlines about UCLA School of Medicine suggest that the institution has lost its focus. Instead of brushing up on organic chemistry, its students were subjected to lessons on “Indigenous womxn” and “two-spirits.” Future doctors had to take a class on “structural racism” and were led in a “Free Palestine” chant by a Hamas-praising guest speaker. The school made plans to segregate students by race for courses on left-wing ideology, and two of its psychiatry residents championed “revolutionary suicide.” 

Why has the school charted this course? One reason is its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion ideology. UCLA has a DEI program called “Cultural North Star,” and at the medical school, it is led by Natalie J. Perry, whose official title is Cultural North Star Lead. Her UCLA biography says that her job is to “embed our aspirational Cultural North Stars [sic] value [sic] in our organizational DNA.” UCLA honored Perry last month for teaching students to “do what’s right,” saying her “empathy and radical listening” are to thank for her “success as an educator and a leader.”

According to a Daily Wire and City Journal investigation, however, Perry’s academic career is based on fraud. Perry published her Ph.D. dissertation in 2014 at the University of Virginia about college diversity programs. An analysis of the paper found it ridden with the worst sort of plagiarism, reproducing large swaths of text directly from several other authors, without proper citations. The scale of the plagiarism suggests that Perry lacks both ethics and competence and raises questions about academic programs that push DEI.

Perry’s dissertation lifted passages from ten other papers. In key portions of her text, she copied almost every paragraph from other sources without attribution. She fails even to mention at least four of the ten plagiarized papers anywhere in her dissertation.

Let’s review some examples.

The first three pages of Perry’s paper, “Faculty Perceptions of Diversity at a Highly Selective Research-Intensive University,” suggest that she did not even bother to read beyond the first page of papers from which she stole. Her dissertation’s second sentence reproduces verbatim part of a sentence on the first page of a paper by Adrianna Kezar, Peter Eckel, Melissa Contreras-McGavin, and Stephen John Quaye. Her third paragraph, without citation, lifts more than 100 words from the first page of a paper by Angela Locks, Sylvia Hurtado, Nicholas Bowman, and Leticia Oseguera.

Each colored portion of the below text was taken from a different author:

In some cases when Perry did include parenthetical citations, she wasn’t citing the papers whose text she had lifted. Instead, she simply reproduced the citations included in those stolen excerpts.

Take the above paragraph, which ends with “(Bernard, 2005; Bollag, 2005; Munoz, Jasis, Young, and McLaren, 2004; Williams, Nakashima, Kich, and Reginald, 1996).” Perry was not synthesizing those authors. Instead, the citation was part of Adalberto Aguirre and Ruben Martinez’s paper, from which she apparently copied and pasted, without attribution.

A core part of Perry’s dissertation involved summarizing work done by professors Robert Quinn and John Rohrbaugh. Instead of citing them directly, however, Perry cribbed summaries from other academics. Perry copied and pasted almost all of a nearly thousand-word passage from a paper by Chad Hartnell, Amy Yi Ou, and Angelo Kinicki, without quoting the authors.

Consider, for example, the following excerpt from Perry’s dissertation. The italicized portions were taken verbatim from Hartnell, Yi Ou, and Kinicki’s paper:

The CVF is widely used in organizational literature (Ostroff et al., 2003). Measures of organizational culture that directly or indirectly assess the CVF have been administered in over 10,000 organizations globally (Cameron et al., 2006) within the following academic disciplines: management, marketing, supply-chain management, accounting, social services, hospitality, and health care. Further, the reliability and content validity of Cameron and Ettington's (1988) measure of the CVF has been empirically supported in studies utilizing multitrait-multimethod analysis (Quinn & Spreitzer, 1991), multidimensional scaling (Howard, 1998), and structural equation modeling (Kalliath, Bluedorn, & Gillespie, 1999). Surprisingly, prior to 2011, there had been limited assessment of the theoretical foundation of the CVF despite its reported content validity and widespread use in research and practice.

The rest of Perry’s analysis of Quinn and Rohrbaugh’s work is largely copied, unquoted and unattributed, from a 2003 paper by John Smart. Below are pages 13 and 14 of Perry’s paper, outlining its “Theoretical Framework,” with the italicized text coming directly from Smart:

To develop this theory Quinn and Rohrbaugh (1983) asked a panel of distinguished organizational theorists to evaluate the similarity between every possible pair of 39 indexes of organizational effectiveness derived from Campbell’s (1977) exhaustive synthesis of criteria used to assess the performance of organizations. The results of this analysis revealed three basic dimensions underlying the judgments of respondents. The first dimension is organizational focus, which distinguishes organizations that have an internal emphasis on the development of people from those that have an external focus on the development of the organization. The second dimension is organizational structure, which distinguishes between organizations that have an emphasis on stability and control from those that have an emphasis on flexibility and innovation. The third dimension is organizational means and ends, which distinguish between organizations that emphasize processes such as planning and establishing goals from those that emphasize resulting outcomes such as productivity and efficiency.

In a section titled “Positioning Diversity Leadership in Higher Education,” Perry copies almost every sentence from one of several other papers. In no case does she credit the actual source:

Finally, in a section on organizational culture, Perry duplicates language from a variety of other authors:

Perry presented her paper as “qualitative” research because she chatted with what appear to be ten members of her colleagues at the University of Virginia who sat on the faculty-retention taskforce and counted their musings as “data.” But when the paper gets to this section, where plagiarism wasn’t possible, Perry includes the following jumbled passage that includes a glaring spelling error:

The positionality of the participants informed the perspective on the origins of the commission. /in response to the needs of the varios [sic] stakeholders within the university, the commission addressed issues of diversity on the faculty, undergraduate, graduate, and university level.

The section of original text suggests that her plagiarism could be used to mask glaring academic deficiencies. Moreover, Perry in her references section fails to list some of the papers that she cites parenthetically in the body of the dissertation—a telltale sign that she had simply copied those citations from somewhere else. Legitimate academic inquiry would not excuse such shoddy work.

Perry and UCLA did not return requests for comment.

Entrepreneur Mark Cuban recently argued that DEI policies don’t necessarily lower an organization’s expectations. But for Harvard, UVA, and UCLA Medical School—where Perry earned her master’s, Ph.D., and DEI position, respectively—this is evidently not the case. These institutions have dramatically lowered expectations for favored groups and pushed a cohort of “scholars” through the system without enforcing basic standards of academic integrity.

Ultimately, Natalie Perry is to blame for her misconduct. But these institutions of higher learning share some fault for permitting such shoddiness to stand unchallenged.

==

These are the same people who want to lecture us how much more morally enlightened they are than we are.

[mariacallous]

Last month, as they sought details on what happened in a failed hiring effort, members of the Texas A&M University Faculty Senate suspected they weren’t getting the full story from top administrators.

President Kathy Banks pleaded ignorance in the hiring debacle surrounding Kathleen McElroy, telling faculty members she was unsure what led to McElroy’s claims that Texas A&M offered her a position—with tenure—in a newly formed journalism department only to change the terms of the deal due to concerns over her race (Black), her research and her past work at The New York Times.

Banks, over and over again, claimed to have no knowledge of a change in the contract. But by the time she left the online meeting, faculty members felt strongly the president wasn’t providing straight answers.

“We’re being lied to on a lot of fronts,” one professor said in the July 19 meeting.

“It cries out that we’re not being told a straight story,” another faculty member said.

A day later, on July 20, Banks retired abruptly, citing “negative press” over the hiring spectacle. She made no mention of the distrust expressed by faculty members or the pushback she had faced.

By July 21, the faculty’s concerns had been validated in a report from the Texas A&M system’s Office of the General Counsel that showed Banks’s direct involvement in the McElroy case, with the president’s fingerprints all over the decision to yank the offer and replace it with a nontenured option. The report spelled out, in clear facts, that Banks—under pressure from legislators and regents to drive Texas A&M in a conservative direction—was the architect of the failed hire.

(Banks did not respond to a request for comment from Inside Higher Ed.)

Even on its own, the dishonesty Banks displayed in the McElroy case would have likely sunk any presidency. But for Banks, the McElroy situation came two years into a contentious term, marked by clashes with professors and a top-down leadership style that eroded support from constituents across campus.

At the campus level, the story can be taken as one of hubris and dramatic missteps, but zooming out, the Banks tenure reflects the perils of the modern presidency amid increasing politicization of higher education, especially in red states where skepticism of academe is high.

Two Years of Tensions

Banks assumed the presidency in June 2021 after nine years at the helm of the engineering department. Banks had joined Texas A&M in 2012, coming over from Purdue University.

As dean of the College of Engineering at Texas A&M, Banks was celebrated.

“I must state that initially, when she was named president, I was very optimistic,” Raymundo Arróyave, a Texas A&M materials science and engineering professor, said by email. “In balance, despite the fact that I disagreed with some of the policies that she implemented as dean (this is usual, faculty do not agree with administration 100 percent of the time), I thought that she had been a transformational dean. Our college doubled in the number of students, faculty, footprint, etc. So, she was very effective at elevating the college and had similar hopes for the university.”

But, he added, “Dr. Banks quickly made it clear that her presidency was going to be [one] of dramatic changes. Many of those changes were poorly justified and poorly communicated (lack of effective communication was a common shortcoming of her tenure as dean, by the way).”

The first controversy of the Banks presidency began behind closed doors. Early in her presidency, Banks sought to establish her vision and introduce sweeping changes at Texas A&M. Those changes came in the form of recommendations from MGT Consulting in fall 2021 that included academic consolidation and reorganization, restructuring of certain administrative positions, and various programmatic changes.

But some with direct knowledge of those conversations suggest the recommendations from MGT Consulting were largely dictated by Banks. The president saw the recommendation process as a way to put forth her own ideas and let MGT Consulting take the heat when those proposals were met with resistance, said a source who served in the president’s cabinet.

“She said, ‘Our job is to tell them what we want to do, they’ll write it up in a report, and then, when there’s public criticism, we’ll say we’re following the advice of the consultants,’” the former cabinet member said, speaking anonymously due to concerns about career repercussions.

In conversations in the summer of 2021, senior leaders allegedly dictated to MGT Consulting the recommendations that the firm would later put forth as their own ideas, the source alleges.

“President Banks directly said, ‘Let’s put some things in there that we know the faculty will not like. And then we can reject them so it will look like we’re listening to them.’ The whole process was a PR sham to begin with,” the former cabinet member told Inside Higher Ed, noting that they were unsure of what poison pills were inserted since they did not work on faculty issues.

(MGT Consulting did not respond to a request for comment from Inside Higher Ed.)

Blowback to the MGT Consulting recommendations was immediate. Faculty raised concerns about combining the College of Liberal Arts, the College of Science and the College of Geosciences into a new College of Arts and Sciences. While the university offered little public rationale for the change, recent public documents released by Texas A&M related to the McElroy scandal indicate that—according to a text message from Jay Graham, a member of the Board of Regents—Banks had said the academic consolidation was “to control the liberal nature that those professors brought to campus.” (Neither Graham nor system officials responded to questions about that claim.)

Plans to eliminate tenure for librarians also prompted objections from faculty, particularly as administrators refused to explain the rationale for months before eventually making the argument that a reorganization of the library was needed to streamline and simplify operations to emphasize student needs. Despite the objections of faculty, nearly 30 librarians lost tenure or tenure-track status last year. Others decamped to different departments to maintain tenure.

Outside of the controversy generated by the MGT Consulting report, Banks also stirred anger on campus by announcing plans to kill the print edition of the student newspaper in February 2022 before backing away from that decision. Two months later, Banks defunded Draggieland, an annual drag show run by student organizations in partnership with the university. That decision, made with no initial explanation, prompted outcry from students and LGBTQ+ organizers. Officials would later assert that Draggieland was self-supporting due to ticket sales.

Last July brought changes to Texas A&M Qatar, an overseas outpost operated in conjunction with the Gulf nation’s government. Texas A&M reorganized the Qatar campus, eliminating rolling contracts for faculty in favor of fixed-term deals while consolidating power under one dean and limiting research activities for professors in non-degree-granting units, as outlined in a Banks memo.

Faculty members decried the top-down decision-making, arguing that the elimination of rolling contracts would undercut recruiting efforts and academic freedom at A&M Qatar. As these changes played out, faculty members on the main campus accused Banks of ignoring shared governance and leaving them out of important decisions as she pursued her own agenda.

A Faculty Senate resolution last August accused Banks of a “lack of commitment to meaningful shared governance” that was “promulgating a mistrust of future administrative decisions.” The “absence of shared governance” was “exacerbated by a lack of transparency,” the resolution stated.

As discontent with Banks continued, Karen Wooley, a distinguished professor in the department of chemistry, wrote a letter to Banks in December accusing her of “causing substantial disruptions and threatening the integrity” of Texas A&M, according to various media reports.

In January, Banks announced efforts to increase communication and provide more face time for faculty and staff with university administrators as well as the formation of two new committees to “improve our continuous evaluation and feedback” led by senior administrators, among other changes.

But the January olive branch from Banks did little to settle faculty concerns. By April of this year, frustration with the president’s top-down management style had reached a boiling point. A poll of members of the Council of Principal Investigators, a group of faculty members who help guide research efforts at Texas A&M, found “widespread discontent” and alleged that administrators had created an environment rife with fear and intimidation, The Texas Tribune reported. The poll, inspired by Wooley’s letter, found 89 percent of CPI members had similar concerns.

A Faculty Senate Showdown

By the time Banks met with the Faculty Senate on July 19, tensions on campus were high. The story of how McElroy’s hiring fell through was opaque at the time, and the faculty wanted answers. Instead, Banks deflected their concerns, downplaying her role in and knowledge of the hiring debacle.

Arróyave, the materials science professor, pressed Banks with hard questions, later telling Inside Higher Ed that there was “too much confusion as to who wrote the offer letters, who modified them, who was aware of the additional contract negotiations, etc.” Based on his experience with Banks as engineering dean, Arróyave said he “found it difficult to believe that she was not aware of the contract negotiations.”

The distrust of Banks by faculty members in the meeting was palpable.

Concerns swirled about the influence of outside organizations such as the Rudder Association, a powerful conservative alumni group, and others who were celebrating the failed hire. What faculty didn’t know at the time was that Banks had worked with José Luis Bermúdez, interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, to restructure McElroy’s offer. Bermúdez—who resigned amid the scandal—schemed with Banks on the plan to change the role McElroy was stepping into, as demonstrated in documents later released by the Texas A&M system.

Emails and text messages between university officials, including Banks, indicate that McElroy’s past as a Black woman who worked for The New York Times and researched diversity, equity and inclusion issues was a potential headache for Texas A&M. Banks stressed that it was important to slow-walk the hire until after the end of the legislative session in May, and Bermúdez told a subordinate that it would be “poor optics” to hire McElroy with DEI under fire in Texas. (Lawmakers implemented sweeping restrictions on college DEI offices and work last session.)

As administrators deliberately delayed the process, McElroy dropped out of the running.

“I believe that KM has pulled out. Department just got query from Texas Tribune. I’ll make sure that everything is referred over to Kelly,” Bermúdez texted Banks on July 10, seemingly referring to Kelly Brown, associate vice president of marketing and communications at A&M.

In the exchange that followed, Banks would go on to call McElroy an “awful person” for going to the press and noted, “we have a lot of skeptics about the whole concept of journalism,” while directing Bermúdez to pause the search for a director of the nascent program.

Text messages between regents, released as part of Texas A&M’s internal review, demonstrated that board members also seemed to be exerting influence over the departmental hiring decision.

“Please tell me this isn’t true,” Graham texted Banks and system chancellor John Sharp about plans to hire McElroy. “But since it’s not April Fools Day, I assume it is. I thought the purpose of us starting a journalism program was to get high-quality Aggie journalist[s] with conservative values into the market. This won’t happen with someone like this leading the department.”

Another regent, Mike Hernandez, questioned McElroy’s résumé—calling The New York Times “biased and progressive leaning” and suggested tenure approval would be “a difficult sell.”

(Neither Graham nor Hernandez replied to requests for comment.)

Texas A&M would soon settle with McElroy for $1 million. (McElroy, who remains in her position as a journalism professor at the University of Texas at Austin, did not respond to a request for comment.)

Outside Influence in Texas

The McElroy hiring controversy has since been followed by another scandal at Texas A&M in which opioid researcher Joy Alonzo was suspended by system officials and investigated for comments she allegedly made about Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, a powerful figure in Texas.

The investigation ultimately cleared Alonzo of wrongdoing, and system officials claim that all policies were followed appropriately. But the two controversies combined have raised lingering questions about the political influence exerted on Texas A&M by state lawmakers and others.

A spokesperson for the flagship campus largely deferred questions to system officials but emphasized, in response to an inquiry about outside political influence, that “Texas A&M prioritizes maintaining an environment that encourages academic freedom, critical thinking and intellectual diversity.”

A Texas A&M system spokesperson did not answer a list of detailed questions from Inside Higher Ed, instead sending a link to a news release summarizing the recent legislative session. Pressed for answers, system spokesperson Laylan Copelin deferred questions to the university.

In a recent editorial, however, Sharp discussed the dual scandals with McElroy and Alonzo.

“Regarding the events in Dr. McElroy’s hiring process, it is difficult to recognize the alma mater I dearly love and to which I owe so much. Texas A&M is far better than this!” Sharp wrote in an opinion piece for The Austin-American Statesman. “A few, however, forgot our Core Values.”

Sharp touched lightly on academic freedom concerns, defending his actions in the Alonzo controversy, and pointed to legislation to codify tenure in state law—after it came under attack from legislators—which he noted was a win for both “academic freedom and accountability.”

But some faculty members worry less about outside influence and more about what direction a politicized Board of Regents and university officials want to take the university and system.

“This is not outside influence. It is clear that (at least some of) the maximum authorities of the system would prefer a more conservative disposition by the faculty and university. Frankly, I think it is highly contradictory to denounce identity politics and then call for the production of ‘conservative journalists’ out of the new journalism school,” Arróyave said, noting broad concerns about the worrisome “interference of politics and ideology into academia.”

Since both the Alonzo and McElroy controversies, university and system officials have stressed the importance of academic freedom and resistance to outside influence on the institution. But as recent documents made clear, the pressure isn’t just from Texas lawmakers—it is also coming from the inside, with regents appointed by Republican governor Greg Abbott, many of whom donated generously to his campaign, intent on pushing Texas A&M in a conservative direction.

[beardedmrbean]

A Boston liberal arts college admitted that the recent anti-Israel protests on campus have contributed to low enrollment for the upcoming academic year which will necessitate possible staffing cuts.

In an internal message this week, Emerson College president Jay Bernhardt pointed to "multiple factors" prompting a "significant" shortage in the incoming freshman class, including the protests and the press generated by them.

"We want to share with our community that the size of our incoming first-year class for Fall 2024 is significantly below what we had hoped," Bernhardt’s statement declared this week.

"We attribute this reduction to multiple factors, including national enrollment trends away from smaller private institutions, an enrollment deposit delay in response to the new FAFSA rollout, student protests targeting our yield events and campus tours, and negative press and social media generated from the demonstrations and arrests."

Bernhardt disclosed that the school would be looking to implement layoffs and budget cuts to account for the lost revenue. Tuition for the 2024-25 school year is listed at $55,200, and room and board costs are more than $20,000.

"We will limit our staff and faculty searches next year and carefully review existing programs and offerings for future savings," the college said. "Finally, we will need to eliminate some staff positions, both vacant and filled, and potentially reduce some faculty positions."

Emerson College saw a wave of anti-Israel protests on campus this spring that resulted in clashes with Boston police and arrests. 

During one demonstration in April, more than 100 protesters were arrested for not vacating their encampments that were in public access areas on campus.

In the struggle to remove agitators, multiple officers suffered minor injuries, a police spokesperson told Fox News Digital. 

At the time, Bernhardt released a statement about the demonstration that led to the arrests, stating, "Emerson College recognizes and respects the civic activism and passion that sparked the protest in Boylston Place Alley in support of Palestine while also holding and communicating concerns related to the numerous ordinance violations caused by their encampment. We also understand that clearing the encampment has significantly and adversely impacted our community."

Emerson’s Student Government Association slammed the president’s conduct in regard to these protests. 

As a local NBC affiliate reported, Emerson College SGA President Nandan Nair stated, "He has routinely sent out insensitive emails, that have not only portrayed the facts accurately but also, failed to express empathy and failed to support the students that have been traumatized and affected by these events."

Emerson did not immediately reply to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

[eretzyisrael]

by Dion J. Pierre

Harvard University denounced an antisemitic image depicting a Jew lynching an African American and an Arab which was posted on social media by an anti-Zionist faculty group.

“The university is aware of social media posts today containing deeply offensive antisemitic tropes and messages from organizations whose membership includes Harvard affiliates,” the university said, speaking from its Instagram account. “Such despicable messages have no place in the Harvard community. We condemn these posts in the strongest possible terms.”

Harvard Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine (FSJP), a group which describes itself as a “collective” committed to falsely accusing Israel of genocide and dispossession — terms one finds on the fringes of the extreme right — initiated this latest controversy. The image it shared shows a left-hand tattooed with a Star of David containing a dollar sign at its center dangling a Black man and an Arab man from a noose. In its posterior, an arm belonging to an unknown person of color wields a machete that says, “Liberation Movement.”

“African people have a profound understanding of apartheid and occupation,” says a graphic in which the image appears. “The historical roots of solidarity between Black liberation movements and Palestinian liberation began in the late 1960s. This period was marked by a heightened awareness among Black organizations in the United States.”

It continued, “The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee [SNCC] linked Zionism to an imperial project while the Black Panther Party aligned itself with the Palestinian resistance, framing both struggles as part of a unified front against racism, Zionism, and imperialism.”

On Monday, Harvard Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine — whose 112 founding members include professors Walter Johnson, Jennifer Brody, Diane Moore, Charlie Prodger, Leslie Fernandez, Khameer Kidia, and Duncan Kennedy — apologized for sharing the image and suggested that it was unaware of its own social media activity.

“It has come to our attention that a post featuring antiquated cartoons which used offensive antisemitic tropes was linked to our account,” the group said. “We removed the content as soon as it came to our attention. We apologize for the hurt that these images have caused and do not condone them in any way.”

Two other student groups have apologized for sharing the image, according to The Harvard Crimson. In a joint statement, the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee and the African and American Resistance Organization said “our mutual goals for liberation will always include the Jewish community — and we regret inadvertently including an image that played upon antisemitic tropes.”

The past four months have been described by critics of Harvard as a low-point in the history of the school, America’s oldest and, arguably, most prestigious institution of higher education. Since the October 7 massacre by Hamas, Harvard has been accused of fostering a culture of racial grievance and antisemitism, while important donors have suspended funding for programs. Its first Black president, Claudine Gay, resigned in disgrace last month after being outed as a serial plagiarist. Her tenure was the shortest in the school’s history.

As scenes of Hamas terrorists abducting children and desecrating dead bodies circulated worldwide, 31 student groups at Harvard, led by the Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC) issued a statement blaming Israel for the attack and accusing the Jewish state of operating an “open air prison” in Gaza, despite that the Israeli military withdrew from the territory in 2005. In the weeks that followed, anti-Zionists stormed the campus screaming “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and “globalize the intifada,” terrorizing Jewish students and preventing some from attending class.

In November, a mob of anti-Zionists — including Ibrahim Bharmal, editor of the prestigious Harvard Law Review — followed, surrounded, and intimidated a Jewish student. “Shame! Shame! Shame! Shame!” the crush of people screamed in a call-and-response chant into the ears of the student who —as seen in the footage — was forced to duck and dash the crowd to free himself from the cluster of bodies that encircled him.

The university is currently being investigated by the US House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce. It was recently subpoenaed by the body after weeks of allegedly obstructing the inquiry.

[wolveria]

The Raven’s Hymn - Ch 22

Pairing: SCP-049 x Reader

Series Warnings (18+ only): Eventual smut, dubcon, slow burn, violence, horror, death, monsters, human experiments, dark with a happy ending

Chapter Summary: “It’s not my job to care. I joined Dr. Puli’s program because I was fascinated with sentient SCPs. Like you.”

AO3

Waking the next morning feeling somewhat refreshed, you found what little normality you could by showering and eating breakfast. 049 again politely occupied himself while you were naked, and the irony didn’t escape you how the SCP treated you more like a person than your former colleagues did. You hadn’t caught sight of another human being since coming to stay with 049, and you were starting to prefer it.

Unfortunately, your wish was not granted, and a squad of five guards entered the containment cell, ordering you and 049 into the center of the room.

The SCP sized them up with narrow eyes, fully aware of his faculties as no lavender descended from the ceiling. But when the squadron leader ordered you to stand next to 049 and grab his hand, and it was clear you weren’t going to be separated, he simply glared at them rather than appeared as if he was going to start removing limbs.

The guards held their rifles at 049, not you, and looked like they were ready to shoot him at any moment, so you obeyed without questioning it. You stood next to the tall SCP and grabbed his hand in yours, holding on tight in case the guards changed their minds about keeping you together.

You were given no time to reflect on the comforting weight of 049’s fingers curling around yours; a guard came forward and tied your wrists and hands together with a strong, thin cord of rope, tying it off. The lead guard commanded you to follow his squad, and it took you a belated moment to realize you were both leaving 049’s containment cell.

With each step, the tension in you heightened—you were able to imagine all too clearly the kind of nasty, barbaric tests the Site Director had waiting for the two of you. Your anxiety increased at the familiar signs on the wall: you were heading to a medical bay.

049 tightened his grip on your hand and pulled you in closer. Your breath caught in your throat, but then you were in the medical wing, too distracted and confused by the change. The last time you’d been here, most of it had been blocked off by curtains, but now it was an open room with every bed filled. Some were in oxygen chambers, some even unconscious, but all of them seemed to be in an advanced stage of intensive care.

“Glad you could stop playing house long enough to join us.”

Your stomach dropped. Even 049’s hand twitched around yours as the Site Director moved into view. He stood a safe distance away, always keeping at least two guards between him and the SCP, but he didn’t seem too concerned by the lack of lavender sedatives.

“I’m sure you can guess what is required of this test,” Leahy said without preamble. “Go to each and touch them. Slowly. Cause any trouble and you will be subdued.”

049’s glare was as piercing as a steel-tipped arrow.

“You needn’t tell me what the patients require, sir. They will receive the proper healing, and not due to your coercion. I know you find this difficult to believe, but I, as a doctor, have dedicated several lifetimes to—”

“You can cure the patients, or you can run your mouth,” Leahy said in a bored tone. “Your choice. Just know if you continue to delay, I’ll activate your collar myself. Nothing would bring me greater pleasure.”

“I have little doubt,” 049 muttered.

“What was that?”

You placed yourself in front of 049, effectively breaking their glaring contest, and lightly tugged on the SCP’s hand as you stared up at him.

“Please, can we just… do this?”

049 dropped his gaze to yours, all the annoyance and anger fading from his grey eyes.

“As you wish.”

The SCP led you toward the first bed, and to your relief, Leahy didn’t seem interested in following and goading him. Something strange and light floated in your stomach as 049 lead you to each bedside by the hand, reaching out and curing each patient. Their expressions would light up at the effects of the touch, though for some it would turn to fear when they focused on the SCP’s beaked face.

One woman attempted to thank you, and you said, “049 is the one who healed you.”

She looked at the tall SCP, her face tight with nervousness, but she gathered her courage to thank him.

049 didn’t respond immediately, as if the gesture had been unexpected.

“It was, as they say… a group effort. But your gratitude is appreciated.”

After that, 049 seemed to be less burdened, lighter on his feet, and unbothered by the stares and fearful expressions he still sometimes gathered. But the further down the medical bay the two of you went, the more attention patients focused on him when they realized what he was doing. The overall fear faded from their expressions, and more of them thanked 049, which left the SCP either flustered or speechless each time.

Your heart ached at the implications, that he was unaccustomed to gratitude, at least, gratitude like this. 049 was especially lost after one of the patients, an older man who had been on his literal deathbed, shook 049’s hand vigorously before the guards encouraged them to separate.

The SCP continued to remain quiet, lost in his thoughts. You couldn’t move your tied hand except to shift your fingers until they were closely entwined with 049’s, slotting between them.

049 looked at your joined hands, and then up at you, the warmth in his eyes unmistakable.

As you moved on, you noticed the guards weren’t as close to the pair of you as before. You might not find a better time to freely talk to the SCP, especially while out of the containment chamber.

“I’ve been thinking about what you said,” you said under your breath, just loud enough to reach him. “About me being a doctor, because you think I… care about people.”

There were perhaps more important things to talk about in a rare moment of not being under surveillance, but this particular topic nagged at you, burrowing into your side like a thorn. Maybe if you came clean with the SCP, he would realize you weren’t as worthy of his respect. Because his opinion of you mattered, and you didn’t want him believing you were something you weren’t.

049 glanced at you out of the corner of his eye.

“You disagree.”

Swallowing, you took strength from the way your fingers curled together. Maybe you would only be gripping hands if it was at gunpoint, but you couldn’t deny it gave you comfort.

“It’s not my job to care,” you said, low and quiet. “I joined Dr. Puli’s program because I was fascinated with sentient SCPs. Like you.”

049 said nothing, and you waited for him to cure the next patient before speaking again, both of you naturally slowing your pace to extend the conversation. You were halfway through the medbay now.

“There was nothing altruistic about it. I obtained the position I did because I’m exceptionally good at compartmentalizing. I can put the horror away in a box and choose not to look at them, because if I do… everything will unravel. I would unravel. I’m the exact opposite of everything you described.”

Your tone was still quiet, but bitterness dripped from your words like venom. Harshness that was solely aimed at yourself. Not even the Site Director could be blamed for the things you’d done in the name of the Foundation.

049 took a moment to respond, thinking over your words with care. You weren’t used to that from anyone else.

“Then, perhaps it’s fortunate you no longer retain your old position. Perhaps, you have found a new calling. One better suited to your skills and temperament.”

“My new calling as a prisoner of the Foundation? I sure hope not.”

“You twist my words, dear one,” 049 said with a cool look. “I simply meant that perhaps you were meant to be a healer, rather than a jailer.”

Your heart skipped a beat at the unexpected term of endearment.

“I…”

You never had the chance to finish your thought; the guards had finally caught on to your private conversation.

“Face forward. Don’t talk,” one of them snapped. He prodded 049 in the back with the butt of his rifle, for no other reason than because he could.

049 stumbled but otherwise caught his balance quickly. He shot a sideways glare that only you could see, and you didn’t envy the security team if the SCP ever got free of his chains.

Free of his chains… It was strange but before now, you hadn’t really thought about what would happen should that occur. Security breaches were rare at this facility, the sections separated by vast catwalks to keep them contained and isolated should one fail. But the idea of 049 free and wandering the facility was terrifying. You didn’t know if the strange, calming effect you had on him would keep him from trying to “cure” as many people as possible.

Then again, as long as you were touching 049, he could only heal with his touch, unless he decided to go straight for violence instead. It reminded you of the guard 049 had apparently killed. Louis Salazar. You still hadn’t received any satisfactory answers on what happened there.

Maybe you should have asked about that then having 049 assure you that you weren’t a monster for working for the Foundation.

Frustration at yourself wasn’t going to do any good. You followed along beside 049, unable to speak to him and offer anything besides a hand around his. You were going to miss this, having an excuse for comforting contact. Did 049 feel something similar? Did he even care about such things?

Honestly, you hoped whatever 049 was, he wasn’t a social creature. Living hundreds of years without being able to touch another living being without killing them… it was a kind of torment you couldn’t imagine.

Or, well, perhaps you could, if you survived long enough in this place.

After the last patient was cured, the medical bay was rather chaotic, nurses and doctors rushing back and forth as those who were in their last moments of life suddenly having renewed vigor and health. It would have been wonderful to see any other moment, but you and 049 were ushered back to the containment cell without fanfare.

Still, as far as experiments went, that was definitely at the top of the list. If only more of them were like that. Maybe if you were lucky, there would be.

Next Chapter